Chapter 143 - At a loss
The grey light emanated softly from the ice-cold beast’s fang, swept past Wild Dog Taoist’s face. This man lying in front of him, was the murderer who destroyed Blood Forger Hall with his own hands.
A glint in his eyes flashed, as if he was wrestling with some thoughts but this opportunity was really one in a million, what kind of a figure was Ghost Li usually, Wild Dog Taoist could not even imagine he would be able to kill this man but right now this man looked like he had lost his will, it was a good opportunity for revenge.
Wild Dog Taoist’s murderous glint flashed in his eyes, the beast fang magical weapon struck down.
The wind whistled, suddenly a soft sharp sound broke through this deep night stillness.
Before the magical weapon touched the body, the force of the wind blew onto that dispirited man, his disarray hair on his forehead lifted, revealing a face with his eyes closed.
He looked quite pale, such a thought suddenly flashed past Wild Dog Taoist’s mind, in his lifetime, he had never met such a strange man like Ghost Li, he could not figure out too, just what was it that could make this person who looked so unwavering, to be so despondent.
However, he did not want to know too, in his heart, Blood Forger Hall had always had an important place, this importance even surpassed Nian Leader who ruled Blood Forger Hall and the rest of the members. Therefore after being pushed to the brink by Ghost Li and his men, Nian Leader and the rest surrendered but only Wild Dog Taoist surprisingly persisted.
And right now, it was a golden opportunity to take revenge!
Wild Dog Taoist had already started to imagine the image of fresh blood spurting out and spraying onto his face, at that flint-spark moment, he suddenly thought: if he killed this man, Xiao Huan who was lying behind him, would she be upset and broken-hearted, maybe, she would never talk to me again…
After all, Xiao Huan and Ghost Li, they had a past that Wild Dog Taoist did not know but watching how Xiao Huan insisted to bring Ghost Li along and take care of him, he would have guessed the relationship between them.
Wild Dog Taoist for some reason, his mind was in a mess and at that moment, countless of thoughts went past his head. But, that beast fang in his hand, eventually still, stabbed down!
Watching, almost reaching that despondent man’s throat, about to stab in.
An enormous hand, suddenly stretched out from the darkness.
Soundlessly, like a ghost suddenly appearing before Wild Dog Taoist, that huge hand without waiting for Wild Dog Taoist to react, grabbed hold of Wild Dog Taoist’s beast fang magical weapon.
The strong momentum of the beast fang going down pushed the huge hand down by an inch but only this distance, after which, the entire beast fang like an iron casted, held by the huge hand and immovable, stopping at Ghost Li’s throat, missing by just a little bit before it would have stabbed in but no matter how Wild Dog Taoist exerted strength, he could not move it down anymore.
Wild Dog Taoist was taken aback, he looked up and that instant, felt his blood turned cold, above him in the darkness, three balls of burning flames appeared, forming a triangle and especially that highest ball of fire, indistinctly had a solemn golden colour and a strange fierce blood red.
Even if Wild Dog Taoist broke his head open, he also could not comprehend how could the golden colour which represented subduing evil and blood-devouring red could actually mix together, but right now what he knew was, this monster in the darkness with just one hand could stop his beast fang, this level of skill was definitely not someone he could beat.
And in this shapeless darkness, suddenly like some strange beast had roared, in a blink darkness swept towards him, almost swallowing him up.
Wild Dog Taoist did not dare to stay, almost subconsciously he released the magical weapon in his hand, turned and flew back, just at that instant, a swift powerful wind force came from above, blew opened a big hole with an enormous boom at where he was standing, the entire small mountain shook.
A distance, Zhou YiXian and Xiao Huan were jolted awake by the shock, looking over, they saw Wild Dog Taoist thrown over, landing near the fire pit and after landing he was unable to stand straight, stumbling a few steps back.
And on his face, a terrified look, his voice hoarse, saying, “Monster, monster…”
Zhou YiXian and Xiao Huan both turned behind and looked, the next moment their countenances changed.
In that darkness, at the place where Ghost Li was lying, within the darkness, an enormous body slowly emerged, both feet on the ground, both arms over the knees, one look and it was at least four, five zhangs high, far taller than the people at the scene, the group of people slowly lifted their head and could only stare up.
At the highest point, the three balls of fire were actually this monster’s eyes, the enormous and sharp fangs appeared in its mouth, the muscular body, every part emanated murderous intent.
Zhou YiXian sucked in a breath of cold air, muttering, “Three-eyed spiritual...no, wrong, it’s three-eyed ferocious monkey.”
Xiao Huan was stunned, asked in shock, “Grandfather, what did you say? Don’t tell me that is Xiao Hui?”
Zhou YiXian snorted, pulled Xiao Huan back and angrily spoke to Wild Dog Taoist, “What did you do, to anger this monster?”
Wild Dog Taoist kept quiet.
Zhou YiXian looked at his face, felt even more infuriated, was about to yell at him when suddenly he heard an angry roar ahead, the three-eyed ferocious monkey’s eyes were like blood, the huge body suddenly leapt into the air, the wind howled and a blanket of shadow shrouded over them.
Zhou YiXian and the rest turned pale, scattered around running, Xiao Hui who had evolved into an enormous ape seemed to be really angry over Wild Dog Taoist’s attempt to hurt its master, the fierce glare in its eyes surged, its attack not leaving any mercy.
The three of them turned pale, turned and ran in different directions, Xiao Hui who had evolved into an enormous ape seemed to be really incensed by Wild Dog Taoist’s malice towards its master, its eyes shone with terrible glint, attacking without any mercy at all.
They narrowly avoided the attack, Xiao Hui’s huge hand smashed down, [pong] a sound and another huge pit appeared on the ground, even the campfire beside, because of the huge impact, scattered and flew up, the remnant fire and ashes drifted in the air, illuminating Xiao Hui’s huge body like an legendary evil monster.
[Wu ah!...]
The infuriated huge beast roared, waved its right hand, a stream of grey light flashed past, swift as the wind and quick as lightning, charged towards Wild Dog Taoist, in an instant it had already arrived before Wild Dog.
Wild Dog Taoist felt a burst of strong wind in his face, it had not reached him yet but his skin felt almost as if the wind force was about to tear it off, greatly shocked, he with all of his strength swerved to the side, his body had just barely moved when he felt pain in his back, that grey light brushed past his back, Wild Dog Taoist’s body shook violently, he felt a wave of great force surging over, a taste of sweetness in his throat and a mouthful of blood was already out of his mouth.
A flash from the corner of his eyes, he saw that the grey light was from his own beast fang magical weapon.
Before he could give a wry laugh, the huge ape body suddenly appeared above him, with a loud boom descended, Wild Dog Taoist wanted to escape but his body could no longer move, he could only heaved a long sigh and closed his eyes to wait for death.
Looking helplessly as Xiao Hui was about to tear Wild Dog to pieces, the huge body descended with a loud sound, Zhou YiXian and Xiao Huan stared shell-shocked and did not know what to do. Suddenly, Xiao Hui’s body had a strange change, his enormous body suddenly tilted backwards and then with an extremely bizarre and comical posture, [pu tong] a sound, its backside going downwards, sat right down on the ground.
[Pong!]
This action had an extremely strong impact, resounding with a loud sound. Xiao Hui made a [wu] sound, evidently it was also extremely bewildered, its huge hand scratched its head, turned to look.
Zhou YiXian, Xiao Huan and that Wild Dog Taoist who was fortunate to survive, turned and looked at the same time.
Ghost Li who had woken up at some point, suddenly appeared behind Xiao Hui, a desolate expression on his face, his right hand clutching Xiao Hui’s tail, most likely he, by a moment of hair’s breath, pulled Xiao Hui from the air and thus saved Wild Dog Taoist’s life.
Xiao Hui’s three eyes blinked, suddenly it howled to this man who was less than half of its size, Ghost Li instead only shook his head slightly.
Xiao Hui’s body suddenly wavered, the next moment the sounds of bones [ka ka] erupted, under the astonished stares of Zhou YiXian and the rest, the huge body shrank, in a short moment, the humongous body again turned into that adorable three-eyed monkey, it peered around while on the ground, [suo] a sound and again scurried up to Ghost Li’s shoulder.
Ghost Li stretched out his hand and patted the monkey’s head, Xiao Hui’s three eyes turned, it looked unwilling, [zhi zhi] called out and at the same time pointed at Wild Dog Taoist with its hand.
Wild Dog Taoist was stunned and noticed that Ghost Li was also looking at him, he was heard saying, “You wanted to kill me?”
The expression on Wild Dog Taoist’s face changed, displaying a mix of emotions, he also felt Xiao Huan’s astonished stare and for some reason, felt an inexplicable hurt, he could not help himself and burst out:
“That’s right, I want to kill you! You destroyed my Blood Forger Hall, killed so many of my sect brothers, today I want to seek revenge, shouldn’t I?”
Ghost Li did not speak, only gave him a cold stare, Xiao Hui on his shoulder also quietened down, [zhi] a sound, as if it was mocking Wild Dog.
Wild Dog, being stared down by Ghost Li, felt uncomfortable and Xiao Huan beside him kept quiet, which made him felt even more ill at ease, under such torment, he gritted his teeth, angrily said, “Kill if you want to, what are you looking at?”
Ghost Li slowly, looked away from that fierce of mien but faint of heart, Wild Dog, his expression, also slowly changed.
Looking somehow melancholy, somehow desolate, somehow broken-hearted, somehow in anguish…
“What do I want to kill you for, if killing a person could save her, even if I have to kill the whole world, I would have done it long ago…” He mumbled, his voice distant, “Ten years already, what have I done other than killing people? What exactly am I living for?...”
His face bleak, his body slowly turning, ignoring the rest, he walked off alone.
Wild Dog Taoist was stunned, Xiao Huan’s face suddenly changed and she chased after him. Zhou YiXian was shocked and quickly stretched out his hand to catch her but unexpectedly his hands grabbed empty air.
Xiao Huan after a short while caught up with Ghost Li, she pulled Ghost Li’s hand, said, “What happened to you, where are you going?”
Ghost Li, with that question, felt his entire world shook and only that four words rumbled!
“Where are you going?...Where are you going?...Where are you going?...”
“I...where can I go?”
This man, suddenly lifted his head, gazed at the firmament!
The black sky, heavy and dark, infinite boundaries, not a trace of light, the darkness filling the sky and covering the ground, like an avalanche, drowning him in it…
I, where should I go…
In the darkness, a soft voice, quietly asking him.
X x x
The southern border fringe, Seven Mile Cave.
The dreary atmosphere shrouded the entire valley, countless of Miao people swarmed over from all directions, standing along the path to the altar halfway up the mountain, there were old people, children, sturdy men, women. Their eyes, contained infinite sorrow, some of the women started to weep, very quickly, sobs started from the crowd.
Qing Long, following behind the Miao tribe leader, Tu MaGu, his hand solemnly holding the porcelain urn which contained the great shaman ashes, slowly walked towards the altar.
Pairs of eyes, were all on that porcelain urn, the young men’s hands curled into fists, the women crying and the old people, with only desolation on their faces.
Tu MaGu, the tribe leader, kept quiet all the way, his face sombre but evidently he took the news better than the rest of the Miao people.
Traversing the path packed with people, traversing past the sorrowful gazes, the mountain breeze gently blew over, brushing past the small urn, there seemed to be a slight sound, like singing, like relief.
This was the ground of the hometown!
Qing Long was someone who had seen innumerable grand occasions but right now, he was instead solemn and respectful, step by step he followed behind the tribe leader and walked to that altar.
On the platform before the altar, a circle of shamans were already standing there, the older ones had heads full of white hair, the younger ones still black however in their eyes, the reverence were all the same.
The shaman who looked the oldest slowly walked up, bowed deeply to Qing Long, spoke a few words in Miao. Qing Long did not dare to be impolite and respectfully listened but he did not understand the words and so turned and look at Tu MaGu.
Tu MaGu quietly said, “This is White Sheep shaman master, he is the current leader of the altar shamans. He is enquiring after you and extremely grateful that you have brought back our revered great shaman’s ashes.”
Qing Long solemnly said, “The great shaman was a person of virtue and prestige and did all he could for our Ghost King sect, I am just doing what I must do.”
Tu MaGu quietly translated his words to White Sheep shaman master, White Sheep shaman master nodded, stepped forward and came before Qing Long, stretched out both of his hands.
Qing Long solemnly handed over the porcelain urn to him.
At the instant White Sheep shaman master took over, all of the shaman masters suddenly started to chant a strange scripture in Miao, their voices hazy, unreal, like spirits speaking softly, like a chill under the cold moon.
The incantation grew louder, resounding far and reverberating in the Seven Mile Cave, from the foot of the mountain, among the people, again crying sounds were heard.
The White Sheep shaman master bowed to Qing Long and Tu MaGu, turned and walked into the altar with the urn, the rest of the shaman masters also followed along. Qing Long watched all that, his ears still reverberating with the weeping sounds from a distance, he could not help but heaved a long sigh.
Tu MaGu’s face was sombre, quietly said, “The entire Miao tribe thank honourable envoy for sending the great shaman back to his hometown.”
Qing Long solemnly said, “Tribe leader is too kind, the great shaman was a great benefactor to our Ghost King sect, our reverence towards elders are no less than all of you. Our sect’s Ghost King wanted to send the great shaman back personally but unfortunately he is tied up with something and could not make it, he specifically entrusted me to convey his apologies to all of you.”
Tu MaGu nodded, said, “Ghost King Sir is too kind, we don’t deserve it. Honourable envoy please come this way.”
Speaking, he stretched his hand out, inviting Qing Long into the altar.
Qing Long was startled, felt puzzled, he thought the altar was a sacred place and outsiders were not allowed to enter, could it be that this tribe leader had something to say to him?
While he was thinking, his feet still went forward, as expected, only Tu MaGu accompanied Qing Long into the altar, the rest of the Miao soldiers following behind him did not come along and the group of shamans had long disappeared, most likely they had gone deep into the altar.
After checking nobody was around, Tu MaGu stopped, Qing Long also stopped, looking at this Miao tribe leader with a brooding expression on his face, he quietly said, “What is it tribe leader, is there are other matters?”
Tu MaGu hesitated then said, “I indeed have a matter, will like to ask honorable envoy.”
Qing Long said, “Please speak.”
Tu MaGu said, “Previously that young man who came to our Miao tribe Seven Mile Cave and invited the great shaman, I wonder how is he now?”
Qing Long was surprised, an image of Ghost Li flashed past his mind, after pausing for a moment, said, “To be honest with tribe leader, that young man is our Ghost King sect vice leader but right now he is grieving and not many know where he is now.”
Tu MaGu’s face revealed disappointed but quickly turned solemn, after a period of silence, he said, “Then will like to trouble honourable envoy if you have the chance to see him, pass a message from old man me to him.”
Qing Long felt uneasy but still nodded and said, “Tribe leader please speak.”
Tu MaGu looked deep into the altar, his voice uncertain, said, “Please tell him, that day in the southern border Seven Mile Cave altar, an old man’s bequest of him, hope he still remembers.”
Qing Long frowned, he was an intelligent man, hearing it once he already surmised that most likely Ghost Li had promised the Miao tribe something which was why the great shaman, disregarded everything to save BiYao, a pity Ghost Li was not around if not he would really want to ask, what matter was it that was so important.
While he was thinking, Qing Long’s face did not show it and he only solemnly nodded, said, “Tribe leader please don’t worry, I will definitely pass the message.”
Tu MaGu sighed, was about to say something when suddenly from outside the altar, a sharp cry was heard from afar.
This sharp cry seemed to come from the sky, it did not stop but yet the muffled cry sounded like it was from the nine netherworlds, filled with rage, in it an infinite viciousness, storming over.
In that instant, in this clear bright daylight, the entire Seven Mile Cave rang with wailing ghost cries, innumerable roars from ferocious beasts rocked the valley, waves of thunder peals rushed forth, like the huge waves of the great sea, instantly drowning the Seven Mile Cave this small island of about a hundred mu big. .
Tu MaGu immediately turned pale, even Qing Long too, both of them looked past out of the altar, in the sky above Seven Mile Cave, the original blue sky was already covered with heavy dark clouds.
Piercing sharp cries continued to cry out, black clouds billowed, the Miao people below the mountain were in a panic, the women and children shrieked loudly.
A gust of Yin wind swept past, blowing coldly from the black clouds above, like an arrogant evil spirit, grinning viciously at the earth.
The sounds of galloping finally arrived, the first enormous figure appearing at the distance mountain top ----
The white bones seemed especially glaring under the black clouds but the three pairs of brightly-colourful wings looked strangely beautiful, however these beautiful wings were instead on an enormous snake which other than its head, had only white bones for its body, it thus looked especially horrible.
A white-boned demonic snake close to three zhangs long, moved the three pairs of wings on its bones, its tongue flicking unceasingly, spitting out black air.
The next moment, behind this white-boned demonic snake body, beside its body and even the undulating mountain ranges, the mountaintops on the mountain valleys around Seven Mile Cave, in the unceasing ghost wails, numerous different and strange demonic beasts race gushed out, shrieking, grinning hideously, brandishing weapons and their sharp claws, charged down from the mountain, pounding towards the terrified humans in this mountain valley.
And this moment, in the horizon above, within the whistling Yin wind, a peal of thunder suddenly exploded, rumbling loudly, surging over like waves, shaking the Heaven and Earth, an indistinct cry in it:
Ling Long…